Wellness Inspiration: Channel Your Inner "Holistic Hottie"

(Source: Marissa Vicario) Healthy is the new hot, professes board-certified holistic health and wellness coach Marissa Vicario. The NYC-based author of How to Be Holistically Hot specializes in helping women change their relationship with food, so we can "deliciously fuel our bodies for optimal wellness." She also coined the term "holistic hottie." Here's how to access yours.

What is a holistic hottie? Does every woman have one? "A 'holistic hottie' is my little term for a woman who owns her total health and wellness without resorting to diets, calorie counting, unnecessary surgery and all that other nonsense. Yes, every woman has one inside, it's just a matter of unleashing it by cleaning up your attitude about how you treat your body; eating the right food; and taking care of yourself with sleep, exercise and other forms of self-care. All of this affects how you look, and ultimately, how you feel about yourself.

How can we better express our inner holistic hotties?"It's all about taking responsibility for how you treat your body. What you put in it is what you get out. So if you're feeding it junk food, or too much alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, what you get isn't very pretty. But if you're eating beautiful, living foods with vibrant colors, drinking plenty of water, and getting enough sleep, and if you're meditating and really just taking care of yourself in every way, then you'll be a happier, more beautiful person from the inside out, and you'll absolutely fall in love with who you see in the mirror."

Why is holistic a "hot" quality?"Holistic is really a term for overall wellness that includes everything from nutrition to fitness to spirituality and self-care. Taking care of yourself is hot. The most attractive people are the ones who have that glow from the inside out. They look good because they feel good."

What are your tips for living a balanced, healthy life?"Healthy living should be fun. A lot of people take this stuff too seriously and it's not meant to be that way. So have fun with it, first and foremost! Aside from what you eat and drink and the other daily basics, connect to what you're passionate about every single day. Whether that's art or music or fashion design or making cupcakes, make sure you have an outlet for that and that you make time for it. In the hustle and bustle of our lives, many of us lose sight of what brings us alive and when we do that, we lose ourselves. Finally, give back. There is nothing more fulfilling than being of service in whatever way you feel called."